Family has been in the oriental hand-made rug business for decades. Dad is in his 80s and needs to retire but can't come up with solution to sell the business or inventory.
Things to consider/know:
-trends have evolved quite a bit and by market standards the designs are outdated or appealing to a very niche consumer — think more traditional, persian designs. Some consider this product more like art given the production of these rugs is now a dying art/skill.
-1.5k pieces all of which are large room sized pieces (7'x10' to 12'x18' in size)
-inventory is located in Canada, I am now based in the U.S
-$2M is the acquired cost of the product over the last 15-20 years
He has tried the following with limited / to no success
-tried selling the business in its entirety or parceling out the inventory below cost
-tried working with auction houses w/ a split rev share (they find the product to bulky and difficult to handle)
-liquidation / going out of business sales – can't even make the marketing spend back
As the daughter of a burnt out and somewhat depressed father, what would you do in this situation?
How would you monetize $2M worth of handmade rugs?
byu/Positive_Custard_411 inEntrepreneur
Posted by Positive_Custard_411
2 Comments
Have you tried Etsy, eBay, making your own website and monetizing and advertising? You can outsource search engine optimization for such a nice niche and probably make a whole lot more money selling them individually than as a parcel. Those things don’t really go bad do they? Maybe consider shipment to the Middle East and places where they’re popular. Hope this helps 👍
I’d probably try to approach a nearby home staging companies to ask them to incorporate them to get nice pictures of it in an a real house. Give them a cut of the profit it sells. It could be a win/win for both of you.